NBC Picks Up Roseanne's Working Class Sitcom

Roseanne Barr’s first crack at a sitcom back in 1988 became ratings gold and was praised for being a realistic portrayal of a blue collar family during a recession. The comedienne hasn’t acted on television since Roseanne went off the air in 1997, but she once attempted a talk show and was recently the star of a docudrama entitled Roseanne’s Nuts.

Now she will return to television with a brand new sitcom. Downwardly Mobile will feature an ensemble cast depicting the working class struggles during the economic downturn. It shares similarities with Roseanne which isn’t a surprise considering Barr’s longstanding goal to represent the demographic as true as she can.

“I wanted to do a realistic show about a strong mother,” she wrote in an article for New York Magazine, “It was 1987, and it seemed people were primed and ready to watch a sitcom that didn’t have anything like the rosy glow of middle-class confidence and comfort, and didn’t try to fake it.”

Now over 20 years later, she feels society is in the same place it was two decades ago and is ready to bring another honest sitcom back to television. Mobile was picked up by NBC for a pilot deal. Former Roseanne writer/executive producer Eric Gililand has joined Barr as co-creator and will write and executive produce the series. The 20th Century Fox project also includes Barr’s longtime boyfriend Johnny Argent and Steven Greener.